Highlights
• The IOM DTM Round XIX (October 2017) estimates that a total of 1.57 million people are still internally displaced across the three north east states of Adamawa, Borno and Yobe, of whom 85 per cent are in Borno alone. Children represent 56 per cent of the total IDP population.
• With the launch of the school enrolment drive in the north east, a total number of 120,010 children were enrolled in safe learning spaces in Adamawa and Borno within the reporting period.
• During the reporting period, UNICEF provided improved access to water to 130,952 IDPs and conflict affected people taking UNICEF’s total reach for 2017 to 525,719 people.
• In 2017, UNICEF has admitted in therapeutic care a total of 161,317 children with severe acute malnutrition (SAM), representing 73.3 percent of UNICEF’s target. It includes 15,192 children admitted during the reporting period.
• UNICEF continues to provide technical and financial support to a total of 755 persons, including 526 children (248 girls and 278 boys) released from administrative detention and receiving integrated rehabilitation services at the Transit Centre in Borno State.
8.5 million Projected number of people in need of humanitarian assistance in the north east states of Borno, Adamawa and Yobe for 2017 (Humanitarian Response Plan, 2017)
1.6 million IDPs in Borno, Adamawa and Yobe states, over 56 per cent are children (DTM Round XIX, October 2017)
4.4 million Children in need of humanitarian assistance (HAC 2017)
UNICEF Appeal 2017 US$ 146.9 million
*Humanitarian Action for Children (HAC), does not include inaccessible areas of Borno
Situation Overview & Humanitarian Needs
The IOM DTM Round XIX (October 2017) estimates that a total of 1.57 million people are still internally displaced across the three north east states of Adamawa, Borno and Yobe, of whom 85 per cent are in Borno. This represents a decrease of about 3 per cent as compared to Round XVIII (August 2017). The reduction is explained by the movement of people to the newly accessible areas in Borno State. Children represent 56 per cent of the total IDP population.
During the reporting period, a total of 2,107 new arrivals were registered in 14 LGAs in Borno and 3 LGAs in Adamawa, (IOM DTM ETT Report: No. 37; No.38). These ongoing arrivals are increasing the pressure on the delivery of humanitarian services in the IDP settlements in terms of shelter, health and nutrition, provision of food and access to sanitation. With the upcoming dry season and improved road access, it is expected that hostilities will intensify leading to increased population displacement.
As of 31st October 2017, the total number of confirmed and suspected cholera cases reached 5,281 with 61 deaths (CFR = 1.2 per cent): 2,649 cases in the Muna corridor (Jere LGA); 736 cases in Dikwa; 1,750 cases in Monguno; 58 cases in MMC and 20 cases in Mafa. The number of confirmed and suspected cholera cases, in Borno, increased slightly from 150 cases in week 42 to 172 cases in week 43. There were no new cases in Dikwa within the reporting period. The Borno Ministry of Health, on 26th October 2017, due to the substantial reduction in the number of cases decided to close the Cholera treatment Centre (CTC) in Muna. Despite this improvement, active case search and cholera control efforts by UNICEF and partners, continue to be sustained in all the identified hotspots.
Preparations for the relocation of the IDPs from the General Hospital Camp in Bama (Bama LGA) to a new site are ongoing.
With about 15,000 IDPs, the General Hospital Camp is extremely congested with about 3,000 IDPs living without shelters or sharing shelters with others. With the relocation of the entire camp planned for mid-November 2017, UNICEF sections and sectors in collaboration with the CCCM sector are supporting the establishment of infrastructures and services.
Over the reporting period Ngala became accessible again by road and this has increased the influx of returnees from Cameroon, creating increased demands for shelter, learning spaces and teachers as well as WASH facilities.
Humanitarian leadership and coordination
UNICEF co-leads with the Government the WASH, nutrition and education sectors as well as the child protection subsector; it is also an active member of the health sector. Regular information sharing takes place with the Emergency Operations Centre (EOC) in Abuja and in Maiduguri, alongside other UN agencies and line ministries. UNICEF continues to strengthen coordination, increase operational capacity at the field level, expand NGO partnerships, engage community-level social mobilizers and strengthen existing UNICEF programming systems to reach the most vulnerable.
UNICEF provided technical support for the HNO/HRP process in the WASH, Nutrition, Education Sectors and the Child Protection sub-sector, supporting the overall development of the HNO and the HRP. In addition, the 3 Sectors and the Child Protection Sub Sector provided technical guidance to partners through formal and ad hoc meetings to support their development of projects for the Humanitarian Response Plan (HRP) 2018 to ensure that projects submitted by sector members are aligned with the sectoral strategies and objectives. UNICEF provided support towards managing the challenges that came with the initial disagreements over the PiN through re-analysis, deliberations with sector members, and advocacy to Government.
UNICEF continued to support the EiEWG’s ongoing Joint Education Needs Assessment (JENA) in the north east, which was officially launched in Borno on the 24th October and the training of 21 enumerators on 26th October.
Humanitarian strategy
UNICEF continues to scale up delivery and quality of the humanitarian response to affected populations in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa states in coordination with the Government, other United Nations agencies, and non-governmental organizations (NGOs). UNICEF is targeting the most vulnerable populations distinguishing service provision between IDPs and the host communities; in locations where both are present they will have equal access to the services supported by UNICEF.
For a more effective scale up modality, UNICEF has diversified and strengthened its partnerships. Alongside Government, UNICEF has increased partnerships with reliable NGO partners and now has 39 programme agreements: Nutrition 15; Education 3; WASH 5; Health 3; Child Protection 11; and C4D 2. In conjunction with the diversification of partners, UNICEF is also strongly promoting outreach and mobile strategies in nutrition to ensure greater accessibility to nutrition services for populations that live far from the fixed sites to increase admissions. UNICEF has supported SPHCDA to set up 35 outreach sites in Borno (MMC 21; Jere 9; Mafa 3; and Konduga 2) and 26 in Yobe (Barde 3; Karasuwa 3; Jakusko 4; Nguru 3; Bursari 4; Geidam 3; Gulani 3; and Yusufari 3). In addition, 10 mobile teams have been established in Gwoza, Pulka, Izge, Bama, Banki, Damasak, Kukawa, Gubio, Rann and Dikwa of Borno providing integrated nutrition services to 50 sites.
To improve the quality of the response UNICEF is increasingly integrating its approach, especially amongst Health/Nutrition/WASH and where possible multi-sector programme agreements have been developed with NGOs. This has included increased community mobilization to ensure that the software components of the programmes receive increased attention through WASHCOMs for the operation and maintenance of water points, community mobilization to clean latrines and demand creation for health/nutrition services. The integration of WASH facilities into schools is another critical component of this approach along with integrating Child Protection activities into the school environment, especially training for teachers on PSS for use in the classroom.
The Rapid Response Mechanism is being strengthened to enhance the humanitarian community’s capacity to respond in a timely, coordinated and predictable manner to the needs of populations made vulnerable by displacement, disease and/or natural disasters in the northeast of Nigeria. The aim is that within 48 hours of receiving and verifying alerts on affected populations, the RRM is activated to rapidly assess needs and deliver a minimum package of life-saving support through pre-designated partners with prepositioned stocks. The mechanism forms the initial emergency first line response, which is then quickly followed-up by sector-specific responses that are coordinated through the Inter-Sector Working Group led by OCHA. The OHCT has endorsed the RRM plan and are currently working on the minimum package for life saving support.
Programme monitoring has been strengthened with the implementation of a two-pronged strategy for field monitoring:
a) programme implementation monitoring by the programme sections; and b) complementary monitoring of response quality, gaps and emerging issues conducted by independent field monitors in collaboration with the affected populations.